Game board and apparatus for use in connection therewith



Oct. 28; 1941. M, w, ERLE 2,260,892

GAME BOARD AND"APPARATUS FOR USE IN CONNECTION THERE IWITH Filed Sept. 8, 1938 2 Sheets-Shet l INVENTOR.

BY up ATTORNEYS Oct. 28, 1941. M. w. 'ERLE 2,260,892

GAME BOARD ANDFAPPARATUS FOR USE IN" CONNECTION THEREWITH Filed Sept. 8, 1938 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV ENT OR.

W 6:10 BY J a, \2

ATTORNEY;

Patented Oct. 28, 1941 l J NIT ED STATES PATENT .AOFFICE GAME BOARD AND APPARATUS USE IN CONNECTION'THEREWITH i lunch uw. Erle, New mm. 1. Application September 8, 1938, Serial No. 228,887

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a game board, and more specifically to a game board to which game pieces may be attached, and to pieces for use in connectiontherewith.

' In general, it is an object of the invention to provide a device of the character described, which will efficiently perform the purposes for which it is intended, which is simple and economical of construction, which can be expeditiously,- conveniently and safely manipulated, and which can be readily manufactured and assembled.

; Another object of the invention is to provide a board which resiliently and permanently holds game pieces entirely above the board and/or which holds the pieces more or less permanently ontheir bases or sides against the boa-rd; and to provide such a board which tends to restore the game'pieces to upright position when theyare tipped. I v

Another object is to provide game pieces which may be used with the above-described board.

1 Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious'and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article Ofmanufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exem-plified -in-the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of agame board with game piece attached;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a game board generally similar to that shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of a modified form of an element of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

' Fig. 4 is a view of a modified form of an element of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the game piece shown in Fig. 1;

b Fig. 6 is a perspective viewof a modified game ase;

Fig. 7 is a view of a modification of the game piece shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 8 is a view in elevation and partly in section of a modified form of the element shown in Fig. 4.

difficulty at such positions on the board as the rules of the game may require. It is advanta; geous, therefore, underthose conditions, to have a game board and pieces so constructed that the pieces are held firmly placed againstthe board at a plurality of positions. The partsm'a'y be so made that the pieces may be easily removed from one position and as easily fixed at some other position on the board. Fur'thermore, it is desirable that the pieces may be laid fiat on occasion but still be held against the board. Also, it is tobe desired that the pieces and the board be not too rigidly connected, i. e., the pieces should be able to'have some slight'motion without being broken from the board and, ifpossible, the parts should be made so that, after the pieces have undergone such slight disturbing motion, they will automatically be returned to the vertical, assuming the board to be horizontal. The present invention provides a gameboard and pieces which have the before 'mentioned advantages. In the drawings, 10 denotes a game board. It is shown of a type used forfchessfor checkers, although it need'not be of this particularkind. The board may be for any kind of game. The board may be of any suitable material such as plastic, wood, metaL-leather, etc. It maybe of any size, including the miniature. A plurality of areas is set off by appropriate marks or indicia on the board and are referred to herein as squares, although their peripheries may not be rectangular. One or more of the squares are each provided with anopening lZ. Elements [4 areattached in any suitable fashion as by adhesive, or welding, or screws, riveting, etc. to either side but preferably the underside of the board. They extend up through the openings I2 and are formed with a horizontally crooked end. They are preferably of a resilient material, e. g., phosphor bronze, spring metal orplastic.

Pieces l6 areprovided which have an upwardly facing surface 18, preferably near the base of the piece. They, like the board, may be of any material which is able to stand upright. This surface may be aportion of the rim of an opening 20 which extends through the piece IS. The surface I 8 is at sucha height from the under surface 22 of thepiece that the piece may be slid under resilient'element l4 so as to leave the piece seated on the top of the board H! in an upright position and extending across an opening 12, if necessary. The lower surface 22 of the piece is made to conform with the surface'of the board ill or at least to seat stably thereagainst andhence is usually flat. Surfaces l8 and 22 may possiblybe, both, curved so long as their combined action with the resilient member is such as to tend to maintain the piece upright. The thickness of the piece may be kept to within a dimension such that the piece may be pivoted around a horizontal axis so as to lie on the board but still be held thereagainst by a spring action of element l4. If desired, the piece may be of greater thickness than that shown in Fig. 1 in which case there is a cavity through the bottom of the piece leading up to the surface l8 so that element l4 may extend up into the cavity and reach over onto surface It! so as to grip downwardly against the latter.

The board may have a portion 24 thereof ad-' jacent a respective opening l2 pushed upwardly so as to have an upwardly extending hollow in the under surface into which the element 14 may resiliently move. This makes availabe a greater freedom of motion and a stronger clasping of the element I4. If desired, the resilient element may take the form shown at H4. That form is constructed by pushing a tongue, formed from the board material itself, upward so that its end is above the surface of the board. Where this form is used, it is best that the material of the board itself have certain resilient qualities. Any one board may have the different types of resilient elements shown in Fig. 2 or may have resilient elements which are all alike.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a retaining member 2I4 which is composed of a strip 26 to which is attached or integral with which is a plurality of resilient tongues 314. The element 214 is attached to the board 10 in any convenient fashion and the tongues 3|4 are inserted through the openings l2 and act similarly to the tongues l4 described above.

In Fig. 4 there is shown a modification wherein a pair of resilient elements 4 are attached beneath the board I and extend up through an opening l2. These are adapted to grip a game piece I I6 which has a base with a contour adapted to be releasably gripped by the upwardly extending portions of the members 4M. In Fig. 8 similar elements 4l4 have their upper ends bent back inwardly and back toward the board I0.

These ends may be joined together, as shown, or

may not.

Fig. 6 shows a base 28 for a game piece. It has a flat under surface 30 and an upper surface of any desired configuration except that somewhere on that surface, as at 32, there is an area which is rounded. The rest of the surface may be, as shown, in the form of a cylinder. A slot 33 is provided into which may be set a game piece 34 or a depending tongue from a game piece. Slot 33 may extend from one end of base 28 to the other or there may be two slots, one at each end. The latter preferably should have a form such that the area 32 may be reached by the end of any resilient member l4. Thus, the piece 34 may have an opening I20 therethrough. A single set of pieces 28 may be provided into which may be inserted different types of game pieces.

A modification of the piece [6 is shown in Fig. '7. That piece H6 has base elements 36 extending out to act as feet. At least some portion of the upper surface of these feet is rounded and the lower surface is flat. Such a piece is intended to be used with a board having one or more resilient gripping means extending up through the openings [2.

When a game is to be played, one or more elements are moved so that in each case the surface I8 is brought under resilient element l4. Since the surface I8 is arcuate, the element M, which is also arcuate presses against at least some portion of the surface. If the piece is not perpendicular with respect to the board II], it may be riding on one corner of the edge 22. The member l4 therefore sets up a torque about that edge which tends to restore the piece to the vertical. The piece may have been tipped in either direction. After the game is over or, in accordance with the rules of the game, the piece may be turned over against the action of element 14 until the piece lies substantially flat on the board in which latter position, shown in broken lines in Fig. l, the element I4 tends to hold it permanently.

The advantages of a board and pieces which are as simply formed as those described above but which retain their position under varying conditions will be obvious at once. The openings 20 or the feet 35 may be formed so that the piece appears to be the same as any ordinary piece, the opening and feet merely being a part of the decoration. Where there is a cavity extending up through the bottom of the piece, there is even less apparent change in the design. The elements [4 need extend but slightly above the board and need add no distracting feature to the eye.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense,

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a game board and resilient means attached thereto on the under side thereof and extending through openings in said board and adapted for resiliently and releasably holding game elements against said board, said board being slightly raised adjacent said openings whereby a space is provided beneath said board into which said resilient means may move.

2. A game board of resilient metallic material having resilient tongues struck therefrom and extending above the upper surface thereof, each tongue being substantially S-shaped lengthwise thereof to provide a concave recess at its bottom between its root and free end, the resiliency of said material and said tongues being sufiicient to hold a game piece against said board in a predetermined position relative to said board while said board is turned to any position whatsoever, each of said tongues resiliently engaging and holding against the surface of the board a game element and each of said tongues having a free end edge and two side edges leading from said free end edge back to said board whereby an element of a game piece may be above the remainder of said board and beneath one of said raised tongues.

3. In a game device having a game element which has a fiat, under, seating surface and an upper surface spaced at a distance from said fiat surface, the combination with said game element of a game board having openings therethrough, resilient tongues united with the board and extending above said openings and having a downwardly-facing arcuate surface above, and at about said distance from, the surface of said board, whereby said game element is held in place above said board with its upper surface engaging said arcuate surface of one of said resilient tongues.

4. In combination, a game board and a resilient element attached to said board and extending along the under side thereof and having a plurality of free ends extending respectively through a plurality of openings in said board and adapted for releasably and resiliently holding a plurality of game pieces against the upper surface of said board.

MITCHELL W. ERLE. 

